


A Perfectly Imperfect Proposal

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Divorce, Engagement, Hilarity, M/M, Marriage Barisi Bingo, brief mentions of late 1990s homophobia, marriage bingo, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24307714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: Sonny makes all the plans to propose to Rafael; it doesn't go quite as planned, but it ends exactly right.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 106
Collections: Marriage Barisi Bingo





	A Perfectly Imperfect Proposal

Sonny plans it out carefully. He and Rafael have been talking about marriage for a few months, and he's certain Rafael won't propose first (but if he does, that doesn't mean Sonny can't still propose anyway). He calls the New York Aquarium and talks to a person who gives him some general ideas of when the aquarium is quietest. He checks that information against Google statistics, and three days before, he picks up the ring from the jeweler and stashes it in the pocket of the jacket he plans to wear. 

"Let's go to the aquarium tomorrow," Sonny says to Rafael the night before. He'd asked Rafael a couple of weeks before to see about being off Thursday and Friday so their schedules could match up for once. "There's a new exhibit with crabs."

Rafael looks up from his book, considering. "Okay," he agrees. "That sounds good."

Sonny smiles back and kisses Rafael on the cheek. If his smile is a bit larger than it needs to be, Rafael doesn't notice.

*

Sonny falls back as he and Rafael step into the Oceans Wonder hallway. He always does. Watching the way Rafael's entire face lights up in joy never fails to make his heart flutter. This is one of Rafael's favorite places anywhere in the city. He and his grandmother used to dedicate whole days to coming to visit. The trip down from the Bronx back then took even longer than it does now, and Rafael had passed the time in transit reading the stack of library books they'd picked up first thing that morning. 

The first time Sonny had heard the story, he'd lost himself in thoughts of a tiny Rafael, his satchel bulging with reading material, sitting next to his _Abuelita_ as she knitted and helped him sound out words. 

"We'd get off at the library stop," Rafael had continued as Sonny sat enthralled, "and I'd drop off all the books I'd read on the way. We'd walk from there to stretch our legs, and then it was just all day looking at the animals."

The first time Rafael had walked into the giant, curved aquarium hallway, the walls and ceiling filled with life, he'd cried. He'd been eight years old when the exhibit went up, and to see all the fish and plants and water enveloping him had struck him as the most beautiful thing he'd ever witnessed. His _Abuelita_ had taken his hand and let him cry as they slowly watched the fish. Rafael had spotted a bright blue fish and followed its trail as it traversed the entire shape of the aquarium. 

Here and now, Sonny watches him pick another fish to watch like he did back then and like he does every time they come. It's yellow with a translucent back fin, and Sonny drinks in the sight of Rafael being so unselfconsciously transfixed as the fish moves. 

There are only a few other people in the exhibit. It's still early, and a weekday, so when those few people leave, it's just Sonny and Rafael with no sign of newcomers. 

This is his moment. 

Sonny takes the ring box from his pocket as he steps behind Rafael. He wraps his left arm around Rafael's waist, the box hidden by how he holds his hand. "Every time we come here, I fall in love with you more. I love watching you enjoy yourself so much. I love that you let me see you like this. I love that you were so excited to share this with me when it means so much to you."

Rafael makes a quiet sound of agreement and leans back against Sonny's chest. Sonny knows he won't say much. He never does when Sonny goes romantic on him. That's okay, though, Sonny just needs the one word. 

He turns his hand over and brings his other arm around Rafael's waist to open the box. Rafael looks down at his hands when he hears the slight creak of the hinge. 

"I want to share everything with you for the rest of our lives," Sonny says. "Rafael, will you marry me?"

Rafael takes a shivery breath, one hand lifting to reach towards the ring box. He stills, his entire body going stiff and uncomfortable against Sonny. "FUCK."

That's not the word Sonny needed.

*

"Ms. Calhoun, I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, but Detective Carisi is on the line and says it's very important."

Rita pauses in writing her notes. "Detective Carisi?" she says. 

"Yes, ma'am."

"Put him through," Rita says. Sonny rarely calls her, but if he does, he doesn't use his title. It's not his style at all. 

"Since when are you friendly with a detective, Rita?" her co-counsel on the case asks. 

"Since he's smarter than you, Lyle," Rita replies and picks up the phone when it rings. "Detective," she says, keeping her tone cool, "what can I do for you?"

For a moment, there's no sound, and then there's a high-pitched gasping that Rita confuses for a hard sob until she realizes it's actually just Sonny breathless with laughter. "I get the feeling this isn't a work call," she says. Lyle's eyes narrow. Rita rolls her. 

"I need--" Sonny breaks into laughs again, and then there's the sound of a scuffle and the unmistakable sound of Rafael growling. "It's not that fucking funny."

Rita leans back in her chair and throws her feet on the table. "I can wait," she tells Sonny. Lyle breathes out hard through his nose and Rita covers the phone with her palm. "Go back to your office, Lyle. You're interrupting my fun."

"We have a meeting," Lyle says. 

"Which we will pick up later. It's a motion to exclude evidence. I know you think you can't write those because you're a man, but I promise, if you try really hard, you might briefly remember law school."

"Go fuck yourself, Rita."

"With pleasure." Rita puts her attention back on the call, making a mental note to get Lyle pulled from this case. She'd been willing to play a little politics since his uncle is a senior partner, but Rita's bored with him. 

"Rita--" Sonny wheezes. "I need--" another burst of giggles and a string of expletives from Rafael in the background. 

"Do you need to text it to me?" Rita asks, her own laughter bubbling up at Sonny's inability to get himself together. 

"No. Just a sec." There's some shuffling, then Rafael goes quiet, and then Sonny is back on the line taking a slow, steadying breath. "I need you to divorce your husband so I can marry him."

"I would love to help you, but I'd need--FUCK." 

Sonny loses it again, absolutely howling with laughter. Rita puts her head in her hand and sighs deeply. 

"Hi," Rafael says a moment later, clearly having rescued the phone from Sonny. "Remember when we got married in Atlantic City because we were drunk and gay and angry?"

"Barely. And now that I think about it, I don't recall actually getting a divorce."

"Me, neither. Which hit me just as Sonny was finishing the sort of proposal we used to complain we'd never get because gays don't get those sort of things."

Rita chuckles wryly, remembering that old rant well. They'd been repeating it to each other during a law school convention in Atlantic City. One of the speakers had been a known anti-queer attorney who'd given advice on helping other attorneys keep surviving partners from getting their rightful property. 

"Two fucking assholes drunk in Atlantic City can get married in ten minutes, and no one cares if it's love or not. The surviving spouse still has fucking rights!" Rafael had yelled. 

"We could get married right fucking now and get each other's stuff!" Rita had replied. "But we can't actually get really married for all the right reasons because people are shitheads!"

It had devolved from there--with the help of maybe three too-many rounds of cheap shots--and they'd laughed their way through the ceremony at a 24-hour chapel. 

Rita laughs now as she remembers it. "I'm sorry our sham marriage ruined your proposal."

Rafael huffs. "Well, he let me say yes after I made an ass of myself, so it's not really ruined."

Rita smiles and tips her head back. "I'm happy for you," she says. "You two are great together."

"Thanks, Rita."

"I can get someone here to put the papers together in a day. I'm sure we can easily find a judge who'll even let us call it an annulment if that good Catholic boy of yours would prefer."

"He's still laughing," Rafael says. "I'll text you when he gets himself together."

"Okay. Great. Let me know when you're both available for dinner. My treat, but only if Sonny gets to tell me the exact details from his perspective."

Rafael finally laughs fully, open and warm and happy in a way that Rita rarely remembers hearing when they were younger. She's definitely heard it a lot more since Rafael met Sonny, and she is forever glad for them both. "Go kiss your fiance in the middle of wherever you are and brag about getting married to anyone who stares at you."

"That is an excellent idea," Rafael says. "Thanks, Rita."

"You're welcome." 

Rita hangs up and smiles at the ceiling for a few moments before standing up and picking up her paperwork. Lindsey in the family law division can get the papers together in twenty minutes if Rita offers to buy her a beer. She'll get the papers to Rafael on Monday and only harass him for twenty minutes if he's nice. 

*

That night, lying in bed, their phones still pinging with congratulatory messages, Rafael rolls over to face Sonny and presses a soft kiss to his mouth. "It was perfect," he says. "The aquarium and the proposal, and the ring. I'm sorry I blew it."

"Are you kidding? I loved it," Sonny says. "Because I love you, and now I'm gonna laugh every, single time I think about when I proposed to you, and I love that, too."

Rafael cups Sonny's jaw and rubs his thumb along his cheekbone. "I can barely believe you're real, sometimes."

"Well, I am," Sonny says and rubs their noses together. "And now you're stuck with me."

"Yes," Rafael replies, pressing another kiss to Sonny's mouth. "Yes, again and again."

**Author's Note:**

> The moment I saw the divorce prompt, I knew what I had to do.


End file.
